Just the other day a picture was posted
by Women’s Rights News saying that the United Nations statistics reveal that 10
children a day are trafficked in Nigeria. That’s Nigeria ALONE! Can you imagine how many
more there are in other countries like Cambodia, Thailand and other nations
where millions are impoverished?
What is utterly abhorring are stories of
babies actually being “bred” so they can be sold as soon as they are born. The
David Smith story about a Nigerian “baby farm” raided last June 2011 is not
new. Nigeria has been identified for these “baby farms” that have become quite
profitable for the “professional” criminals. “Professional” because these
places are run by licensed doctors or medical practitioners who use their
professional skills to “breed” babies for sale to the highest bidder.
I went back to an old article I wrote on
“baby farms” thinking it may have been the same one mentioned. It wasn’t. The
story I wrote happened in 2008 but it was really no different from the July
2011 story…only the cost of the babies in 2008 was less than it was in the June
2011 raid. The pregnant mothers-to-be were kept in the so-called clinics or
hospitals until they gave birth. Some had unwanted pregnancies and went to these
places hoping to get an abortion but ended up being detained there against
their will until they gave birth. In 2008, the mothers were paid $170 and the
babies were sold from $2,500 to $3,800. Today the mothers are paid almost the
same as in 2008 but the babies now cost as much as $6,400 each when sold. Lucrative?
Ohhhh yes.
What
is even more repulsive is that some of these girls are also molested and abused
while in these clinics or hospitals. Stories of men “hired” to impregnate women
in such places were also reported by the victims themselves. Some of them who had given birth and paid
after their babies were born actually came back or stayed to voluntarily be
impregnated again so they can sell their babies. That’s 9 months of free food
and lodging for the mother and about $170 once she gives birth. Then what? She
goes hungry again when the money runs out…then gets herself impregnated again?
It’s such a vicious cycle but it is happening because people are so desperate
to survive and there doesn’t seem to be many options open for them. Worse, there are people who can be so
manipulative and can without conscience exploit unassuming young women who may
have just approached them for assistance.
That
these manipulative people have no conscience is even putting it mildly. They’re
heartless money-hungry criminals who exploit the dire state of poverty these
women are in, so they could profit from them. It’s an entirely different kind
of human trafficking but trafficking nevertheless. The women are abused, raped,
impregnated, many kept against their will until they give birth and paid an
insultingly low fee. To say that these women may have also been used as
prostitutes even while they were pregnant is not entirely impossible. These
operators have total control of them while inside their so-called clinics. Some
had even said they were also drugged at times and found out later that the
operator had raped them.
The
“baby farms” discovered in Enugu, Nigeria in 2008 and in Aba in 2011 also in
Nigeria, show that the problem continues to proliferate to this day. But to say
that this is happening because millions are impoverished is not entirely
accurate. Many of these women are kept in these farms against their will. It
exists because there are people who are willing to “feed” these criminals’
thirst for profit. Where there are no
buyers, there would be no business. But there are, and that is so tragic for
the victims.
Trafficking
babies isn’t unique to Nigeria. The existence of “baby farms” has of course
highlighted the situation there. But trafficking of babies happens everywhere
and in many forms. I have watched a documentary where a mother with nine
children would get pregnant to sell her baby. She had no qualms letting the
reporter know that she had done it several times and would do it again for a
fee. Others would kidnap babies to sell them to people willing to buy them.
The
human world has become more and more inhuman, uncaring of others, forgetting
that profit is temporary and this could all be run out, that respect and
compassion for others are essential. But
how can you tell this to criminals? Trafficking is something ordinary to
them…part of their business. They are so used to it that no emotions are
involved when they “go about their business.”
There
are several NGOs in Nigeria working with local and international authorities to
arrest this problem but so much still has to be done. It is undoubtedly
difficult for instance to change a people’s belief overnight, on witchcraft
rituals where newborn babies are used for sacrifice. There are also childless
couples who in desperation resort to adopting newborn babies, maybe not knowing
that these babies were “bred” because people like them were willing to buy the
babies.
There
is a need to be vigilant to curb this problem and it has to be a concerted
effort between the citizens and government. That is already being done now. The
social and legal structures are already there that can make the change happen.
It may take a while, but it can happen. It will happen…
By Lylin Aguas
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